Royal Orchid Thai Cuisine

The wine list at Royal Orchid is an afterthought — a short laminated insert that looks like it hasn't been revisited since the restaurant opened. A handful of selections, no vintage information, no producers worth getting excited about. This is a wine list that exists because people expect one, not because anyone here cares about it.

The list leans on California and Washington with a German Riesling thrown in to cover the 'spicy food needs Riesling' bases — which is at least conceptually sound. But the actual producers are mass-market: we're talking Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi territory. There's no depth, no regional exploration, and no sign that anyone curated this with Thai cuisine in mind beyond that one Riesling nod. If you're hoping for something from Alsace, Austria, or even an off-dry domestic white that could actually stand up to a green curry, you won't find it here.

Four to six pours available by the glass, priced between $7 and $12 — which sounds reasonable until you realize the Woodbridge White Zinfandel is $5.95 a glass on a bottle that retails for under seven bucks. The Moselland Riesling clocks in at $6.95 a glass, which is slightly more defensible given the pairing logic, but still steep relative to what's in the bottle. There's no rotation happening here; what you see is what you get, every visit.